Should Mobile Phones Be Allowed in Schools

Children should be allowed to use their mobile phones in class because they can serve as ‘learning aids', a study claims today. Academics are calling on schools to rethink bans on phone handsets after trials suggested that functions such as calculators, stopwatches and email can be ‘educational'. However, the call is certain to infuriate many teachers and parents, who will be concerned that pupils will be unable to resist the temptation to put the devices to less productive uses, such as cyber-bullying or cheating in tests.During a nine-month experiment involving classes aged 14 to 16, pupils either used their own mobiles in lessons or the new generation of ‘ smartphones' which allow internet connection. They were used to create short films, set homework reminders, record a teacher reading a poem and time experiments with the phones' stopwatches. The smartphones also allowed pupils to access revision websites, log into the school email system, or transfer electronic files between school and home.The study by researchers at Nottingham University involved 331 pupils in schools in Cambridgeshire, West Berkshire and Nottingham. ‘At the start of the study, even pupils were often surprised at the thought that mobile phones could be used for learning,' Dr Elizabeth Hartnell-Young will tell the annual conference of the British Educational Research Association in Edinburgh later today. ‘After their hands-on experience, almost all pupils said they had enjoyed the project and felt more motivated. One teacher told researchers that students like mobiles and they know how to use them. ‘Using this technology gives them more freedom to express themselves without needing to be constantly supervised,' the teacher said. However, the report admits that some teachers think greater use of mobile phones in schools could prove problematic. Increased temptation to steal phones belonging to the school was one worry. ‘I thought, well, four of the se smartphones†¦ Should Mobile Phones Be Allowed in Schools Mobile phones are extremely helpful after school when you’re travelling home. Your parent/ guardian can contact you regarding family matters and also after school if you have to walk your parent can phone you to make sure you’re secure. Likewise Mobile phones also provide safety and protection in times of need. If for example you are in danger of some sort you can phone someone quickly and inconspicuously. In addition if the child goes missing the police can track the mobile and parents can check in on the Childs location.Also mobiles can help if there is an emergency; your parents can phone you direct instead of phoning the office which would take longer. This would be more effective because your parent can tell you exactly what’s going on instead of having a message passed to you. If for example your Gran was ill in hospital your mum or dad etc. could phone or text you updates through out the day. Mobiles also brings families together –They don’t seem to have much time to spend together anymore due to overtime and after-school activities, having the ability to communicate with any one of your family member helps bringing families together.Similarly if you forget something important like homework or your lunch you can contact your parent /guardian and they can drop it off. This would help when you have an important essay, for example, due but you forgot it at home. This would help make sure that all your homework is on time and would help teachers when they have to mark homework. Likewise if you are unwell in school, you can phone your parent to let them know. This would be helpful because your parent would be able to pick you up or can tell you what to do.Moreover mobile phones could save money because they could be used as calculators and can be used to record/ write notes. This would save a lot of money on paper which would make the school more eco friendly and money could be used on other equipment instead of just calcula tors which can be found on all phones, although teachers would have to supervise and trust pupils not to stray from the task. Another benefit would be that pupils can record important dates in their phone to help with important deadlines and exams.A final reason is that mobiles could be used for a wide range of educational purposes, including creating short movies, setting homework reminders, recording a teacher reading a poem and timing science experiments. Mobiles which can connect to the internet, also allowed pupils to access revision websites, log into the school email system, or transfer electronic files between school and home. Experts have claimed that using a mobile gains children’s confidence because the technology is familiar to them.

Compare and contrast two views of how social order Essay

â€Å"Whoever controls the media controls the mind† (Jim Morrison 1943-1971).excellent quote i had forgotten that one To establish a view on how social order is produced, in this essay the main focus will be on two researcher’s arguments both on social disorder specifically in regard to the influence of the mass media. Sociologist Stanley Cohen (1973) suggests that the media depiction of antisocial behaviour helps to construct what he labels ‘folk devils’. Whilst social scientists Stuart Hall et al (1978) argued that the mediation of disorderly behaviour led to the belief that society was in a ‘crisis’. By using my own examples and illustrations I will compare and contrast these two theories and furthermore for differentiation include a more present-day theory on social disorder through Huesmann et al 2003. Thereby through an examination of mediation (media spin) on disorderly behaviour attempt to define how one part of social order is produced in public spaces. Good clear introduction Sociologist Stanley Cohen’s theory on ‘folk devils’ which he first observed during the 1960’s media portrayal of Mods and Rockers (Making Social lives ,p378) gives an interesting oblique view on how social order is maintained, as according to is theory certain members of the public are classified as outsiders and treat like scapegoats. describe the theory a little bit here The evidence for this can be found as far back as ancient Greece Aristotle’s ‘unruly youths’ (Brake, 1980, p.1) Along with â€Å"fears of skilled pickpockets progressing to become burglars in the sixteenth century† (Shore, 2000, p. 21) and as near to our times is the example of Gypsy travellers who are and have been given the dubious pleasure of being one of the â€Å"carriers† of social evil and disorder of our days. Good use of examples This Sun headline (March 2005) on the right is just one of the many stereotypical images of gy psies, blown out of all proportion by mass media mediation and an example of that which is coined by Cohen as generating moral panic that is irrational and creates a situation â€Å"where people are both terrified and outraged† (Cohen, Making Social lives,p378). This use of inflammatory rhetoric with regards to gypsies is still being currently employed today as a Sun reporter reports he â€Å"found a community  brimming with fear and anger – and villagers hell-bent on getting rid of them (Sun May 2011). These headlines from the mass media (public space) with regard to gypsies whom historically have many times been the focal point of European society’s ills and represented as’ folk devils’ very good The media campaigns of hostility against these ‘folk devils’ have not only produced moral panic â€Å"a pattern of behaviour, group of people or a condition becomes defined as a threat to society, its values and its interests† (Making Social lives, p371). This on-going mass media campaign against gypsies resulted in change the nation’s politics and laws to re-address social order. Such, as under sections 77-80 of the 1994 Act, [local authorities may direct persons who are unlawfully residin g in vehicles on land in their own area to leave.] This an attempt to renew social order with regards to gypsies and thus allaying public fear.very good The media also played a significant role in sociologists Stuart Hall’s and co-authors (Policing the Crisis (1978) theory. Hall believed that the issue of crime was instrumental in controlling society and that the media constructions â€Å"contributed to a widespread belief that there was a crisis in society† (Making (Social lives, p378). As an illustration of some of the biased press coverage of street crime is a picture portrayed by this Sun image (Dec 2010) Hall surmises that this is how the media wishes to portray these issues to the public, as a rise in crime and disorder which can and should be treat by the government with greater policing measures and laws, which Hall terms the beginning of a â€Å"Law and Order Society† (Social lives, p378). He goes on to infer that media spin is used to distort and divert public attention from the clear problems of social injustice and inequality and that this aids government on social order policies. Evidence for this Law and Order society can be found with the introduction of the SUS (Stop and Search) powers that were used at their height when 1000 youths were stopped and searched in 5 days in what the police called â€Å"Operation Swamp†(bbc. Home, 25th Nov. 1981).well researched This resulted in the escalation of confrontation between the community and the police due to the locals perceiving an inequality and persecution of young blacks and this sparked off the Brixton race riots (1981). The outcome culminated in the renewal of social order with the abolition of the SUS law (1981). However they returned in another form due to 9/11 and 7/7 attacks to combat terrorism in 2007. To  compare and contrast Cohen and Halls views on mass media mediation and how the social order is m aintained through public spaces it will be shown by examining that they have differences and similarities. Where both Cohen and Hall agree with regard to their theories on the issue of mediation (public spaces) is that they both believe that the focus of the mass media places spin on how social and criminal deviants (muggers) are portrayed. Also they both rely on labels to support their social disorder theories i.e. folk devil and muggers and furthermore characterising them as stereotypes. Moreover they continue to agree that the media exaggerates and amplifies and create’ scapegoats’ whose behaviours good example of compare and contrast are demonised with resulting effect on social order of creating ‘moral panic’ on the one hand and a sense of ‘crisis in society’ on the other. Where they greatly disagree is on the root causes of moral panics and social crisis in that Cohen with very little supporting evidence, believed cultural anxiety was to blame (Making Social Lives, Table 1, p383,). Whilst Hall thought that the blame led elsewhere with his inference to social inequality and racism and that the media served the state in diverting attention away from these genuine social problems (ibid).good In contrast to both Cohen and Hall’s views on the mediation of ‘social disorder’ and the foundation of their theories on moral panic and society in crisis there is a view that has an alternative reason as to why and how the media can play a significant role in shaping social order in public spaces. This alternative view comes from the analysis of a longitudinal study (Making Social Lives, p381) by Huesmann et al on media effects, and in particularly how Huesmann and his team found a correlation between 557 children and the watching of violence on TV and a subsequent increase in propensity for aggressive behaviour in 398 of these same studied people. Therefore Huesmann et al. (2003) reached the conclusion on disorderly behaviour that there is a direct effect of media portrayal of violence. From this you can argue that in Huesmann’s view, media and mediation through public space in this case TV. can have a major negative role in the shaping of social order in society, by desensitising and normalising disorderly behaviour. Although there is no real causation evidence for these claims in Huesmann’s study and that the conclusion drawn on the media impact of television violence a chimera of other social factors very good expand on this a little. Thereby through  the examination of Cohen/Halls theories on mediation (media spin) on disorderly behaviour the following can be gleaned with regard to how one part of social order is produced in public spaces. Established norms of behaviour are created and exist in society supported by mass media and this sometimes leads to an increase in social pressure which is built up with a resulting increase in policing and law legislation (SUS laws). These societal norms are reinforced by media scapegoating of social and criminal deviants, Cohen’s ‘folk devils’ and Halls ‘muggers’. Although there are others (Huesmann et al) who believe that the shaping of social order in society is more directly influenced by TV violence alone. The methodology utilised in this essay was to shed light on the making of social order in public spaces through looking at two main theories on disorderly behaviour. And it has highlighted in my view that quite possibly genuine social problems and solutions are obscured by mediation resulting in legislation that deals with only the symptoms not the causes â€Å"The media’s the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that’s power, because they control the minds of the masses† (Malcolm X (1925-1965). Bibliography Cohen, S. (1973) Folk Devils and Moral Panics, London, Paladin. Hall, S., Critcher, C., Jefferson, T., Clarke, J. and Roberts, B. (1978) Policing the Crisis: Mugging, the State, and Law and Order, London and Basingstoke, Macmillan. Huesmann, R., Moise-Titus, J., Pdolski, C-L. And Eron, L. (2003) ‘Longitudinal relations between children’s exposure to TV violence and their aggressive and violent behaviour in young adulthood: 1977–1992’, Developmental Psychology, vol. 39, no. 2, pp. 201–23. Google Image, News.bbc.co.uk, accessed 24th /26th May 2011 Google Image, Enemiesofreason.co.uk accessed 25th May 2011 Jim Morrison (1943 – July 3, 1971) brainyquote.com accessed 20th may 2011 Malcolm X (1925-1965) thinkexist.com accessed 20th may 2011 Shore, H. (2000) ‘The idea of juvenile crime in 19th-century England’, History Today, vol. 50, no.6,pp. 21–7;

Rationalist Approaches Essay

International relations (IR) are ‘the diplomatic strategic relations of states, and the characteristic focus of IR is on issues of war and peace, conflict and cooperation’ (Brown and Ainley, 2009). Many different theories exist within IR to define and analyse certain situations. Rationalism is classified as the major in IR analysis theory (Baylis, et al, 2011). The study of IR according to a comprehensive and scientific methodology became a key demand after the First World War, resulting from a desire to clarify international politics. Following the First World War, international relations were initially taught in different fields, such as international law and diplomatic history and international organisations. The importance of studying international relations as an independent rapporteur emerged after the Second World War, precipitated by unprecedented US involvement in global affairs (both during the war and in the subsequent Cold War) and the decline of the European empires in the post-war political situation (Hook and Spanier, 2007). International relations seeks to interpret the phenomena of international reality and reliably and realistically conceptualise and analyse international events for the purpose of building theory and prediction and the study of IR itself. IR aims to reach analytical exact facts of the international situation by recognising the power that controls the formation of various approaches of States with each other and by determining how they dynamically interact, and their consequent impact on the conditions of the international community (Burchill, 2011). International relations are changing constantly under the influence of international politics and pressure, which affect the content and characteristics of IR. The problem of correlation between domestic and foreign policy of the most complex and controversial problems precipitates debate in many theoretical trends in the science of international relations, such as neo- realism (Baldwin, 1993). The theory of international relations is a homogeneous group and methodology of assumptions that seeks to clarify relations, which we call internationalisation. This essay will demonstrate critically some of international relations theories and the interpretations of some key concepts, for example power, state and world order, by using historic and contemporary examples in terms of: firstly, realism and neo-realism; secondly, liberalism and neo-liberalism; thirdly, decision-making theory; and finally, to evaluate the extent to which the rationalist approaches are appropriate in the study of international relations and to illustrate the weaknesses and the strengths of rationalist approach in the study of IR, to bring out the essence of various social entities through epistemological approaches grounded in rationality and interpretation based on the event goal finding forms of social organisation. The events of September 11th, 2001 (hereafter referred to as ‘9/11’) and the subsequent invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq in 2001 and 2003 respectively have alerted researchers in international relations to the role of ideological factors in the behaviour of states, something that contributed to the enrichment of the debate and opposed some fundamental assumptions of Western sociology, especially those relating to humanitarian actions based on rationality and social councils, and the associated view that the world is moving towards a common destiny of liberal democracy and market economy, overriding the self-specificities of peoples and cultural differences (Baylis, et al, 2011). Many researchers have tried possible analyses of reality and built theories from to enable a preview of variable events in international reality, and others used these models for intellectual and contemplative purposes in an attempt to extrapolate theoretical exchange, leading to a different understanding of reality and perception and overcoming the impact of the analysis of external behaviour with proposed forms and formats of relations and international transactions; this is the so-called war of paradigms. In addition, the most important reasons for the differences between these paradigms are due to the complexity of the field of international relations and the complex nature of these relations on the one hand, and the difference in perspectives and ideological motives from which each approach on the other. There is no doubt that the selection of work by the term â€Å"paradigm† is the most effective and beneficial, as the hallmark of this field is relative to these paradigms that do not live up to many researchers’ level of theory, but there are poles of paradigms to serve the interests and certain objectives which sometimes may not be available in scientifically objective conditions, and which facilitate the ideological framing of the general orientation of groups or individuals. Firstly, the theory of realism called for overcoming differences among nations through the international rule of law. The most prominent representatives of this trend, such as Morgenthau, considered that the international system is by nature chaotic and driven by a single law (Schuett, 2011). Realism has interests and is supported by historians. However, the theory suffers from uncertainty because it lacks universally supported definitions for example â€Å"power†, and it assumes that state officials act for national interests in accordance with the interests of power; if this is true, this indicates that the state is in a constant struggle (Brown & Ainley, 2000). Morgenthau was mostly concerned with his concept of power. The policy is determined in relation to the power, and aims to own and keep them and their development. The power is always the ultimate goal of the policy. For Morgenthau, sovereignty is authority over the thought or actions of other human beings; he accordingly rated different countries depending on their political objectives (Cozette, 2008). This category consists of four sections: rated countries seeking to adopt the status quo with any exposure to the existing arrangement; rated countries seeking to develop their strength, practicing a policy of imperialism; and states seeking fame. Three forms of power parallel these categories: to retain power, power development, and highlighting power. The classification uses Morgenthau’s concept of power in a relative sense, a classification that lacks rigour in terms of the definition of terms and reference problems posed by the application of this classification (Turner & Mazur, 2009). However, he also warned that common errors can occur when assessing power, resulting in the following recommendations: first, one should not deal with the power as an absolute concept, and should use a relative analysis; second, power should not be regarded as something acquired; and third, one should not restrict focus to one of the power components, rather all should be carried by the dimensions of this concept. Kenneth Waltz diverged from the realist school and added the experience of new realism in his development of the theory of international relations in his book Theory of International Politics (1979). His new concept of foreign policy is based on the understanding of the system and systemic dynamics, and not of peoples or countries, Waltz pioneered realistic visualisation alongside his focus on the study of manifestations of international economics, with the development of the theory of stability to maintain the status quo, when superpowers impose their concepts that are antithetical to some parties such as the initiative to establish neoliberal international financial institutions to support imaginable ideological outlooks (Waltz, 1959). According to Waltz, the main actors that unite on the basis of securing their survival are states. Neo-realism is an alternative vision. Waltz tried in his book to refine the theory of realism by searching for â€Å"essence.† The theory concerns the international system, and maintains this level of analysis as the only way to understand the actions of the actors who make up the elements of this system, which impose specific restrictions on acts. In this sense, Waltz does not have any hostile vision of international relations. The only issue of importance is the system; albeit other factors such as religion, psychology and internal politics and the economy are considered to some extent in a secondary capacity, he believes that the essence of international relations is located above the other factors. Moreover, the appreciation that the chaotic situation of international relations obliges states to pursue policies that are realistic renders the theory of Waltz a revolutionary one that abrogates a number of factors to permit a general theory of international relations. Waltz stresses on properties that are analysed at the level of the base units and conducts classification systems for example (Islamic, democratic) to enable the interpretation of international relations. Waltz claimed that the foreign policies of states are not the most important elements in the interpretation of international relations; opponents say that the g lobal system is the sum of the states and mutual decisions and actions (Waltz, 1959). The most famous example of the new realistic analysis was conducted by Mearsheimer (1990) on the future of Europe. The baseline of the scenario for analysis was the assumption that the end of the Cold War was absolute, and that the complete withdrawal of Soviet influence from Europe was imminent. It is noteworthy that in 1990 the dismantling of the Soviet Union could be a potentially destabilizing danger that could exacerbate the crisis situation and prospects of major wars for two main reasons: first, because the multi-polar system was less stable due to the increased diodes and the growing relations between states in the international system and the lack possible symmetry authorities, and miscalculations tensions and power; and second, because there was a change in conventional military force. Mearsheimer identified four scenarios based on nuclear deterrence: nuclear disarmament of Europe, which was not expected because of the fundamental role of nuclear deterrence in consolidating international relations; to maintain the status quo, which would raise a number of countries such as Germany or Eastern Europe, and could also precipitate an escalation reaction to their possession of nuclear weapons, and resorting to internal action against threats to other countries owning nuclear weapons; nuclear proliferation in the hands of bad management, which could cause an increase in the potential for conflicts in Europe; fourth, nuclear proliferation in the hands of a good management policy associated with the balance of power led some key countries (Mearsheimer, 2007). The latter was the solution proposed by Mearsheimer. This entailed the provision of nuclear weapons to Germany, based on a balance of power engendered by the United States and Britain transferring powers to Europe. His argument was based on the proviso that nuclear weapons are a stabilising factor and that Germany was seeking to consolidate its security. The criticism of Mearsheimer that can be addressed by specialists in the affairs of the institutions is that the policy of maintaining the status quo through organisations such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) was entirely possible. The counterpoint to the realist theory is the liberal approach, which is thought to be the dominant paradigm capable of producing dimensional explanation essential to international relations, with the evolution of scientific and technological progress and economic shifts, which laid the foundations of the liberal intellectual paradigm, which emerged with the seminal pioneers of international law such as Jean Bodin (1552-1608) in his book The Law of War and Peace (1625). Pioneers of liberalism glorified personal freedom and inflated the status of the individual within the state and society and the rule of law against the caprice and tyranny they associated with states, a trend which continued into the era of Classical Liberalism during the 19th century, epitomised with regard to states by Richard Cobden’s argument that Free Trade engendered peace in international relations, and with regard to the individual by John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty (1869) (Grey, 1995). Modern neo-liberalism has outgrown the narrow framework of national sovereignty, focussing instead on the building blocks for international cooperation such as organisations and regional institutions supporting this ethos (Baldwin, 1993). One more recent development is that of the notable neoliberal Karl Doetsch, who moved from inside-loop integration to the role of communication and information between individuals and groups. However, other theories calling for a different vision about international reality cannot be overlooked, such as the theory of dependency developed by some thinkers concerned with Third World countries, in parallel with which political theories and academic attempts to explain changes in the international situation after the end of the Cold War emerged, which predicted the type and nature of upcoming global conflicts such as the notion of the end of history (Francis Fukuyama) and the clash of civilisations (Samuel Huntington), which reduced future conflicts to the spheres of religion and culture (El Anis, et al, 2010). In fact, no single claim has the rigour to encompass and comprehend all dimensions of the complex characteristics of world politics, and a wide range of ideas compete away from the traditional theoretical paradigms, and this competition between theories exposes the strengths and weaknesses of each, and identifies the necessary modifications to be made. In the process of decision-making in a rational manner, one of the logical operations follows a path that starts by defining the problem until a solution is reached, and revolves around the idea of ​​the role of individuals’ ability to increase their own personal benefit; this self-interest of individuals is held to collectively produce the public interest. (Cuban) Rationality is restricted to a basis dependent on personal impressions as well as control methods that are followed in making and implementing decisions. Before turning to the theory of rational choice, studying each of the conditions of the emergence of the concept and definition of the theory of decision-making is necessary. Decision-making theory scrutinises the comprehensiveness of the various elements that must be taken into account when analysing a specific policy, whether in general or in a particular moment; the theory works between these variables, but hypotheses do not necessarily require the decision maker to work on this basis, and it is perhaps more appropriate that the latter consider the decision theory of partial theories rather than the theory of a school if they are focusing on the political system as a whole or specifically on certain private units. Decision-making as an attempt to develop a systemic study of international politics began in the 1950s, led by Richard Snyder and Graham Allison, inspired by the international circumstances then prevailing. At the time, other theories appeared circumstantial and contingent to Cold War policies in the context of the international standoff between the Soviet Union and the United States of America and their allies. The Cold War was at one of its peaks during the 1950s, and led to the emergence of numerous critical scenarios worldwide, which erupted into proxy wars between the USA and USSR in numerous instances for instance the Korean War during the 1950s, and the Vietnam War during the 1960s, fuelled by the competition for military, economic or ideological influence between these two states. This led theorists of international relations in that period to find theories that kept pace with the tense reality of life, and thus came the theory of decision-making in order to determine who makes the decision taken and what frameworks affect relationships between states, and how crises can be managed. Richard Snyder focused his search of international relations on attitudes and reactions and interactions between states, and this theory converged with the theory of realism in some dimensions due to its common identification of the state as the main determinant in international relations (Krasner & Stephen, 1976). Finally, rational analysis has an important place in the analysis of strategic traditionalists who deal with the actors’ behaviours according to the data and plans calculated (military school) that deal with states as the actors seeking to achieve the greatest benefit at minimal cost ( ). This perspective of rationality was enhanced by Hans Morgenthau’s study of rationality aspects relating to the behaviour of states. Morgenthau stressed that countries collide externally and internal variables do not contribute to the external behaviour. The theory is linked in some forms to the stream of the political right, but the 1980s saw the emergence of a school of Marxism espousing the theory of rational free choice, which constitutes an example that there is no necessary link between theory and the political situation. It is clear that the theory of rational choice in the social sciences in general, which first appeared and grew up in sociology, but later separated into different fields of knowledge in the social sciences, had room for application in all the social sciences, particularly political science, and in particular relations in international decision-making foreign policy, and in the profit and loss theories, specifically game theory (Myerson, 1991). This means that the options for each of the parties to the game options and priorities, and in front of opportunities to choose alternatives available to them. However, every alternative is open to each party to affect the value achieved by the other players. If these choices are available for any player, they are available to all other players. This theory helps researchers, especially as they deal with the international strategic situation, in clarifying the alternative options before the decision-makers and helps them understand the problem and the ability to solve systematic analysis more deeply. Rationality in decision-making theory is based on determining rational behaviour, intended behaviour of decision-makers and which player can win. It does not address what route people actually take, and individuals may behave contradictorily and irrationally at times. The advocates of this theory used rational behaviour on the basis that it is most able to make the fittest theory of inte rpretation, and rational behaviour means that each player in international politics has a set of values ​​and goals and decides its policy accordingly, without errors. This is analogous to the analysis of sports, but this game theory is a method of analysis that provides evidence to choose the best route to work; states are required to look for the best ways to work and the attitudes and the results of this appear in the actions of others. The goal is to identify potential irrational acts that can and do lead to decisions and the most convenient work in order to achieve goals. Rational decision links the objectives and means thinking about the results, and rational analysis analyses the relationship between means and goals. Rationality provides full information in advance, so actors are able to stop their analysis when the results they expect are produced. However, the results of rational decision-making are not necessarily useful. It could be argued that one of the signs of an irrational decision is not using the information available. But we experimentally note that the decision is a rational decision in terms of the integration of the goals and objectives, including any tuning account of costs and benefits for explicit values ​​given, and states should take into account the various means at their disposal and also analyse and evaluate the results. In conclusion, neo-realism along with neoliberalism can be categorised as rationalist approaches in IR. While neo-realism is a concept of foreign policy based on understanding the system not the individual states, neo-realists cannot explain change in the system or in some circumstances predict potential dangers (Keohane, 1986). Neoliberalism refers mainly to economic liberalisation, and the facilitation of trade throughout the globe, with the onus on the development of the private sector. To this fundamentally economic programme, a vague concept of political freedom is appended much less forcefully than in Classical Liberalism (Doyle & Michael, 1986). However, the reforms of neoliberalism focus on increasing competition and achieving high economic growth and ignoring the influences that could affect such activities. Although they differ in many aspects, they both look to determine phenomena requiring explanation, for instance, the new realistic analysis conducted by Mearsheimer about the future of Europe, and both approaches identify the key actors. It is clear that they are demonstrating how the findings would be under given conditions if the actors function rationally. References Baylis, J. et al. (2011), The globalization of world politics an introduction to international relations, 5th edition, Oxford University press, New York. Baldwin, David A., (ed.) (1993) Neorealism and Neoliberalism: The Contemporary Debate. (New York: Columbia University Press) Brown, C. Ainley, K. (2009), Understanding International Relations [online], PALGRAVE MACMILLAN, New York, Available from: http://www.coursesmart.co.uk/understanding-international-relations-4th/chris-brown-kirsten-ainley/dp/9780230213104 [Accessed: 22.12.2012]. Burchill, Scott (2001) â€Å"Introduction,† in Theories of International Relations, Hampshire, Palgrave Cozette, M. (2008) ‘What Lies Ahead: Classical Realism on the Future of International Relations’ International Studies Review, Vol.10, No.4, pp.667-679 Doyle, Michael W., (1986) ‘Liberalism and World Politics’, American Political Science Review, Vol. 80, No. 4, pp. 1151-1169 El Anis, I. et al. (2010), An Introduction to international relations theory perspectives and themes , 3rd edition, Pearson Education Limited , England. Grey, J. (1995). Liberalism. 2nd ed. Buckingham: Open University Press Hook, S. W. & Spanier, J. W. (2007). American foreign policy since World War II. 17th ed. Washington, D.C.: CQ Press. Keohane, R. (1986), Neorealism and its critics, New York: Columbia University Press. Krasner, Stephen D., (1976) ‘State Power and the Structure of International Trade’, World Politics, 28(3): 317-47. Mearsheimer, John J., ‘Structural Realism’, in Tim Dunne, Milja Kurki and Steve Smith, International Relations Theories: Discipline and Diversity (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007) pp. 71-88 Myerson, R. (1991), Game Theory Analysis of conflict, President and fellows of Hravard College, United States of America. Schuett, R. (2010) ‘Classical realism, Freud and human nature in international relations’ History Of The Human Sciences, Vol.23, No.2, pp.21-46 Turner, S., and Mazur, G. (2009) ‘Morgenthau as a Weberian Methodologist’ European Journal Of International Relations, Vol.15, No.3, pp.477-504 Waltz, K. (1959) Man, the State and War, New York: Columbia University Press. Waltz, Kenneth, (2000) ‘Structural Realism after the Cold War,’ International Security, Vol. 25, No. 1

Leadership is a process of energy, not structure. in this Essay

Leadership is a process of energy, not structure. in this way,leadership is different from management- managers pursue stabilit - Essay Example This essay will look at the differences between leadership and management in terms of how a leader achieves his purpose and the responsibility of management. The phrase â€Å"Leadership is a process of energy, not structure, in this way, leadership is different from management- managers pursue stability while leadership is all about change† shows that the interest of a manager is maintaining processes and structures ensuring stability while a leader seeks to improve by initiating and driving change in an organisation (Boje, Burnes & Hassard, 2011, p38). In the current business and organisational environment, the decision making organs of an organisation have valued the leadership style to drive change in the organisation, which will ensure that the organisation is competitively placed in the market while still insisting on managerial qualities to ensure reliability in the organisation. One of the key differentiating factors between the leaders and managers is that while the ma nagers maintain the status quo, a leader is interested in developing the organisation to greater heights of success.When a manager is in charge of an organisation or a department within an organisation, his main responsibility is to ensure that that department has maintained the levels of performance that it has. (Mondy, Noe & Gowan, 2005, p68). For instance if a manager is in charge of the human resource department in an organisation, his main interest will be to ensure that the employees do not reduce their levels of productivity or their work ethics, he does this by following the laid down procedures processes and the norms and values that an organisation has. A leader who is in charge of the organisation or the department, his main purpose is to break the status quo in the organisation or department and ensure that it performs better than it was before he took the management position (Kouzes & Posner, 2007, p69). Take a leader for example, who takes control of the human resource department of an organisation, he will learn the operating ethics that the employees have, including the department’s culture norms and values, he will then purpose to learn the strength and weaknesses of the employees in the department. A leader will then analyse these and change the department’s culture if it was an inhibiting factor to good performance, he then will have aim at focussing on improving the performance of the employees based on their strengths and weaknesses and therefore improving the productivity of the human resource department, he is in charge of. While the main point of focus for managers is the systems and structures, a leader is more focused on the people (Wissman, Knippa & Roberts, 2008, p109). A manager’s point of focus is the structures and systems that govern an organisation, these include the set norms, values and code of conduct in the organisation, he then aims at improving these without leaving loopholes that may encourage laxity among the employees (Daudelin, 1994, p35). This in essence means that the employees follow a strict way in performance of their duty and to some extent, their flexibility is limited by the laid down procedures. A manager in a school setting for instance will insist on

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THE OF LinkedIn - Case Study Example LinkedIn marketing team needs to conduct market research in the GCC region, especially the culture of the Muslim community. The operations of LinkedIn Company are all about interactions and exchange of ideas. If the market research can identify the specific culture of cooperation in the GCC region, then the company can increase the membership base (Rodrigues, Maccari & Lenzi, 2012). Furthermore, identifying the different groups of potential members such as the CEOs, the business people, the young professionals and many others, may help expand the membership volume. Additionally, the company should adopt a social media platform costumed to the language and lifestyle characteristics of the Asian, especially the Muslim community. Nevertheless, the company will incorporate some of the giant companies in the GCC region in the management team to lure the members from the GCC. The strategy of increasing the membership in the GCC region may not be the same as the ones used in Europe because the two regions have different national cultures. For example, the European market may view LinkedIn connection agenda as healthy, and many people in the area would be willing to participate. On the other hand, GCC region is a reserved culture, which views the interaction as intrusion into their culture and way of life. Therefore, Europe would need a little convincing since they would readily accept. Porter’s five forces analyzes the competitive environment for business firms. The LinkedIn is a professional networking company whose operations depend on the massive wave of social media interaction currently sweeping the globe. The first Porter model force is existing rivalry among competitors. The LinkedIn is facing competition from Facebook, WhatsApp, and Twitter. However, the level of this force is not high on LinkedIn because most of its competitors are more social

Opinion Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Opinion Paper - Essay Example To me, the idea seems to be okay, and I am for the increment in the reimbursements dues to the reasons discussed below. One of the reasons that I see it appropriate for the reimbursements to be increased is to enable both nurses and doctors to acquire the relevant medications and equipments to serve the large numbers of patients. The increase will result in better services being given by the physicians. Increasing the reimbursements may also lead to an increase in the participation of the physicians and the patients access to Medicaid (Bryan, 2004). The reason I prospect this is because most of the physicians have made it clear that caring for those patients who use Medicaid would become an important part of their mission and thereby a campaign for the increment must be carried out. Another reason for the reimbursement increase is to reduce the struggle that the doctors experience while giving their services to the Medicaid population and at the same time keeping their practices financially viable (Herbert, 2012). The main reason why I say this is because, I have had the chance to interact with some nurses and one of them put it clear to me that, they were in a position of accepting more Medicaid patients if they were in a position to afford all what they required finances and facilities and this usually meant an increase in the reimbursements was necessary. To conclude, it is important for the physicians and the nurses to have a clear understanding of the healthcare financial aspects so that they help their clients in understanding the meaning of increasing the existed reimbursements. The financial knowledge affects the nursing care of patients in the health care settings in that, they will have hands-on information on how their funds are used and how an increase in their reimbursements will improve the services offered to them at the hospitals. The responsibility of keeping

Becoming a teacher Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Becoming a teacher - Essay Example A teacher always uses a lesson plan for facilitation of student learning, offering a course study referred to as a curriculum. A curriculum according to formal education refers to planned interaction of students and pupils with materials, instructional content, resources and process for the purpose of evaluating the achievement of educational goals. Other definitions used to refer to curriculum include: All the education processes which are deliberated and guided by the education institution, whether it is performed individually or in groups, within or outside the institutional compound. Outlines the values, performances, skills, and attitudes pupils are expected to learn from the process of schooling. It comprises of statements of required pupil outcomes, the planned sequence and descriptions of materials that will be needed and implemented to help students achieve their goals. The total education experience provided by an educational institution. It includes the syllabus, the strat egies and other aspects, like values and norms in an educational environment. The roles of teachers vary among cultures since they engage in provision of education but under different fields. Teachers may therefore provide information in different fields including: arts, civics, literacy, numeracy, life skills and community roles. All these fields are covered in educational institutions where teachers provide information in regards to their areas of specialisation. It is in this case clear that, teachers graduate from their various colleges and universities having specialised in certain fields (Vygotsky, 1978, 48). This is the reason why a teacher is not able to provide education on all the subjects covered in educational institutions. These areas of specialisation that teachers provide information on are referred to as curriculum subjects. They are the units that students and pupils learn in various institutions. For a teacher to be enrolled in a certain educational institution, th ere are various standards that should be met. There are rules and regulations that govern teachers for them to carry out effective teaching making certain that all the pupils and students are well taught and that they get to understand what they are being taught (Piaget, 2001. 65). Every teacher here in the United Kingdom is expected to follow these rules and regulations to the latter. This essay seeks to explain the strategies of teaching and learning that can be implemented in English language. As a teacher i intend to implement learning and teaching strategies that will make my class understand everything in the English unit and do well in their exams at the end of the day. In teaching there are various rules and regulations that should be followed in order to make teaching effective. These standards should be followed and kept by all teaching staff. This gives a clear impression that teachers have to keep certain standards of behaviour in their working areas to make certain that their teaching undertakings are effective enough to students and pupils (Alexander, 2010, 76). Teachers are important individuals in the society because they offer knowledge to pupils and students which mould them for better future. This is an issue which makes them to be viewed as important people because without them, students and pupils cannot acquire knowledge needed in life. In this case, they are considered individuals who take part in hard work especially teachers in the lower levels where the pupils are so

An issue affecting two or more countries Article

An issue affecting two or more countries - Article Example While CIA provided information from the satellites about abandoned soviet trucks and weapon depots for the Taliban, ISI transferred the information to the men on ground (Coll p. 291) making it possible for the Taliban to conquer Afghanistan with astonishing speed uniting the country for the benefit of Pakistan, United States and Saudi Arabia (Reeve p. 191). After the September 11 attacks, US invaded the Taliban controlled Afghanistan asking all countries to cut off Taliban support. Pakistan ordered the Taliban embassy to be closed in 2001, allied with the US and supported the invasion by providing its forward military bases. The hard war in Afghanistan followed up by a bloody insurgency caused US to lose unprecedented amount of war founds trying to control Afghan territory. Adding to the troubles were lack of understanding of terrain and psyche of the local people. The overwhelming force and technology, while allowed the US to have complete air superiority and highly reinforced milit ary bases in the region, could still not help them achieve actual victory and control over the territory outside their bases. The insurgency caused alot of contention between USA and Pakistan as allies and the US still ended up blaming Pakistan for supporting Afghan Taliban after calling it their top non-NATO ally. This paper compares and contrasts BBC reports and The Washington Post with respect to the US allegations and Pakistani denials. BBC reports Pakistan being accused of playing a double game by the US (Collyns). After interviewing a few prisoners, according to BBC, the US officials concluded that Pakistan was actively supporting Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan for a hidden agenda. This can be seen as a fallacy of composition created from a single point of view being viewed as the resulting aim of country’s net actions. Pakistani ISI has been a powerful element both in the country and in its defense against the enemy powers when it came to proxy wars. The BBC uses th e circumstantial prisoner witnesses to support the accusation by the US officials. While attributing repeated denials to Pakistan in two instances, the report suggests the US accusations overly weighed and further states them as a fact by presenting a BBC documentary to back up the accusations as facts. This strains the neutral point of view of the report which should be there in an international news article fully attributing views to their actual sources and not stating contentions opinions or conflicting truths as facts. Furthermore, in addition to the US accusations, the BBC report itself alleges that Pakistan has helped and harboured Afghan Taliban in its territory stating it as a ‘plain to see’ fact (Collyns). The Washington Post, on the other hand, also attributes accusations to the US and denials to Pakistan but keeps it to that (Leiby). The report can be contrasted with that of BBC’s in a clear cut way. As a clear contrast to the BBC report, this report presents quotations of US accusations in text with conflicting quotations of Pakistani denials making it more balanced and neutral in its point of view. The Washington Post report also uses the BBC report as a reference but puts it in a more neutral way without any presumptions. The BBC excerpts are quoted to tell the US side of the story while the Pakistani foreign minister is clearly attributed to have categorically put

Do EU Trade Policies Help or Hurt Developing Countries Essay

Do EU Trade Policies Help or Hurt Developing Countries - Essay Example In numerous developing countries, the trend is shifting from trade liberalisation to economic independence (Candau & Jean 2006). The multilateral trading system is enduring from the instability of the economy while preferential agreements keep on flourishing. Nowadays, no developing country is withdrawing from this development. Even if the European Union (EU), which began with the enforcement in 1958 of a customs union, has been putting into effects preferential agreements for several years, other developing countries, particularly those in East Asia, did not aid the increase in the prevalence of preferential agreements (Hoekman & Prowse 2005). Nevertheless, in the recent decades, developing economies, such as China, have further strengthened this risky development. Because of the failure of the Geneva ministerial convention in 2008, there will be heightened need for PTAs (Hoekman & Prowse 2005). The issues raised in the recent decade will occur again. The absence of growth in the mu ltilateral stage will be considered as the major justification for preferential agreements and, apparently, this claim is currently more compelling than before (Falvey & Reed 2002). With the absence of any possible settlement on the Doha Development Round, the international economy is seasoned once again for a new batch of preferential agreements. However, policymakers should understand the risks that PTAs create for developing countries. Theoretically, preferential agreements rule out countries (Candau & Jean 2006). Liberalisation is PTAs’ deal and countries make compromises in them, yet these are exclusive to the signatories. Hence, preferential agreements exclude (Evenett 2008). Given this fact, the first most favourable solution would be to remove preferential agreements in general. Countries, without preferential agreements, could either agree in multilateral discussions on liberalisation plans or have unilateral trade regulations (Hoekman et al. 2008). Nowadays, neverth eless, this is not a possible suggestion. All countries would have to concur with the restrictions of PTAs. Hence, the challenge at present is to enforce mechanisms that lessen the unfavourable effects of PTAs, in particular on developing countries. This issue will be thoroughly discussed in this paper. Preferential Trade Agreements: Favourable or Unfavourable to Developing Countries? Several studies have investigated the effect of the trade preferences of EU on imports from developing nations. Majority have reported favourable outcomes, specifically for the preferences provided to the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states (Persson and Wilhelmsson 2007), which are aiming for sustainable development and reduction of poverty levels. Evenett (2008) emphasises that the effect of the EU Generalised Scheme of Tariff Preferences (GSP), which guarantees that exporters from developing countries are charged with lesser duties, relies on which of the EU GSP agreement that is concerned an d that the organisational expenditures related with acquiring level of preferences to that margins of preference of not below 4.5% are non-utilised (Nilsson & Matsson 2009, 5). Other scholars, such as Cipollina and Salvati (2008), study the effect of preferences of the EU in the industry of agriculture. These scholars reported that the preferential schemes of

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Report on International Issues in ther Hospitality Industry - Essay Example The competition has been intense like never before and the flow of information is regarded as the key decision making factor. The hospitality industry has also not been as exception either. The overall industry of hospitality has experienced paradigm shifts. As it happens with the service industry, the physical environment and the people have been instrumental for the growth and development of the companies that are into the hospitality industry. The other crucial factor that has been immensely important for the success of the companies in this industry has been the continuous research and innovation. The report studies the essence of innovation in the hospitality industry. There is a long pending debate upon the need and the essence of innovation in the hospitality industry. Many of the experts in the domain of hospitality industry are of the view that the increased focus upon the innovation enhances the cost by huge extent. According to them, the increased cost is no match for the rise in expected revenue and therefore, there is no point in focusing on continuous innovation. But the present day industry thinks in a different way altogether. As the industry has become too dynamic, the market leaders believe that it is no longer possible to meet the changing needs of the customer through the age old traditional methods. The three major factors that shape the need of innovation are as follows: The hotel managers often struggle to differentiate their products or services from that of their competitors. This is so because all the competing hotels produce and cater identical products and the services like lodging and fooding. The onus lies upon the individual hotels to present them in a differentiated way in front of the target group of customers and innovation facilitates the process. There is almost no doubt about the fact that the needs of the customers are changing fast. The life has become

Victorian Era Essay Example for Free

Victorian Era Essay There are several differences in the movie comparing to the actual Victorian era and Im going to state three differences. First in the movie it said that prince Albert died of typhoid at the age of 40. In the movie that was the only mentioning of illness and sickness that killed someone. In the actual Victorian era the diseases such as cholera, smallpox, typhoid fever, influenza, and tuberculosis were very common and killed millions of people in the nineteenth century. Child birth was very hazardous and many women died as a result. Second in several scenes in the movie , people were really rude and disrespectful to the queen. Queen Victorias mothers assistant was a individual that was extremely disrespectful to the Queen. He yelled at her and even laid his hands on her and pushed her. In the Victorian era the people in the household were extremely nice and polite. They were basically servants to her. They would hold her hand when she would walk up the stairs and they would always ask if the Queen needed anything at all times. Lastly in the movie , the women wore really short dresses and non collared shirts. In the Victorian era , the wealthy dresses extremely well. Women wore long dresses made of the finest cloth, with high collars to protect their skin from the sun. Unlike today, a tan was a sign that a person worked outdoors and was, therefore, lower class. In conclusion , the movie was different to the actual Victorian era because of the disease , loyalty and the fashion.

Of Mice and Men Chapter 2 Analysis Essay Example for Free

Of Mice and Men Chapter 2 Analysis Essay The purpose of my essay is to look at how Slim is presented as a threat to George and Lennie later on in the novel Of Mice and Men. The first time that we meet Slim in the novel is on page 34. Steinbeck goes into a very detailed description of him, describing him in a beautiful manner, and then the first thing that we hear from Slim is Brightern a bitch outside. All throughout the novel, George has been telling Lennie not to trust anyone, dont talk to anybody, you cant trust them. Yet when George first meets Slim, there very first conversation is a philosophical one. They talk about traveling, and more specifically traveling together. George says its nicer to travel with a friend, which could foreshadow a vulnerability on his part. George is already trusting Slim too much, he has only just met him, he shouldnt be so trusting of Slim. Even though Slim seems to be a gentle and kind person, George has just met him and should not be so trusting. George is beginning to contradict himself and what he told Lennie, not only by being so trusting of Slim, but he told Slim that he was his friend. Yet he told the boss that Lennie was his friend. This essay has looked at how Slim can possibly present a threat to George and Lennie in the novel.

Walton S Mississippi: An American Journey | Analysis

Walton S Mississippi: An American Journey | Analysis Before his travelling to Mississippi, he never really felt the severity of the issue of racism, for he was born into a neighborhood where people kept what prejudices they had to themselves (4). For Anthony and most of the blacks today, Mississippi is something from which the blacks had freed [themselves], washed into the past. The blacks like Anthony today enjoy the fruits of success, freedom and equal rights from the sacrifices of their ancestors. Their biggest concern surrounds trivial questions like whether to have espresso or cappuccino after dinner (9). Most of his knowledge surrounding issues of racial discrimination towards African American are limited to textbooks and conversations with family. During the night of the assassination of Martin Lurther King, Anthony, who was only seven by that time, refused to take out the garbage'(5) for he was terrified of the dark. He knew that Mississippi had something to do with [his] fear (5). His real image of Mississippi came only when his school, Notra Dame lost to Ole Miss (University of Mississippi) during a football game. He was petrified by the scene where the Ole Miss supporters raise the controversial Confederate flags to support their team. He was befuddled by their acts but he realized that something was not right. His experience towards racism was strengthen during his stay in New York to report the protest march in Brooklyn neighborhood in the wake of Yusuf Hawkins murder where he realizes the existence and the severity of racial discrimination. The roads were filled with whites who were throwing watermelonsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦and shouting NIGGERS! (7) He was terrified. He thought that such kind of open racism would only happen in the past, during the pre-Emancipation period. But he was wrong. It happened right in front of him, in this contemporary metropolitan New York. He knew something was wrong but he could not figure out what. That was when he decided to embark on the journey to Mississippi; to discover the root of the problem and find explanation for his many observations, he need to go back to a place where everything begins and that is, Mississippi. During his travelling in Mississippi, he has learnt and observed things that could never be learnt from textbook. During his visit to the Ole Miss football game, among the sharply and richly dress (161) spectators raised Confederate battle banner that were in everywhere, particularly among the alumni (161). Anthony was again befuddled by his sight. Shouldnt the Confederate flag, which is the ultimate symbolization of racism and oppression towards blacks, be removed in this day and ages? What was the intention of white Mississippians raising the Confederate flag? Dont they know that the flag was the key symbol of the period of greatest pain and suffering of the blacks ever in the American history? As he searched for the answer, he soon learnt that the Mississippians have not truly recovered from the pre-Emancipation period. Beneath the seemingly peaceful racial relationship are the prejudices which are deeply rooted in every Mississippians, that even the passage of time could not erase them completely. In places like football stadium in Mississippi, blacks would not be present, as Anthony suggest, for the blacks did not [feel] belong and certainly were not missed (162). There is still a great rift between the black and whites, that Mississippi contains two cultures of blacks and whites that are mutually hostile at each other. Just like the confederate flags that were waving high in the stadium, the whites see it as a representation of history and heritage while blacks think that the flag is a totem of subjugation. Two contrasting and opposing idea, again, reflected the very core problem of the contemporary Mississippi society the lack of understanding and tolerance between ra ces. After having been meeting with a few people like Mrs. Luckett and visiting places like the big mansions that whites reside, he realized that he was missing one major linkage in his search for the true and ugly American history his father. Being a direct victim of racial prejudices and oppression in the 50s, Anthonys father Claude did not talk to his child very much about his past. Anthony realized that by involving his father in his search for the roots of the problem, he would be able to find the linkage between his family past history with the disgusting, violent and often brutal Mississippi history. Through his father, Anthony knew that he was able to learn and feel the suffering of a black directly. Claude was born in Holly Spring. Just like many black children, he too faced with a lot of discriminations from the whites. For instance, he has to receive old books which always have pages missing (215) in school. Unlike the white kids, he didnt get to ride the bus. When there was n o school, Claude had to work in cotton field from early morning till at night. Through the vivid description of his father, Anthony finally understands how the aspect of Mississippi was like, that he often find hard to imagine. It was not until the brutal and merciless murder of his friend James, coupled with the hatred towards whites that he had long carried with him that James decided to leave Mississippi for Chicago, for he was tired of the racism and meanness'(213) here. He wanted to be treated like a boy, like a man (213). Through his journey to Mississippi, Anthony is able to gain more appreciation towards the Blues music, that blues has increasingly shadow everything, including his own worldview and those of [his] parents (227), as the detune notes (227) of the blues truly reflect and echoes the delivers of the spirit, the growl and the shriek (227) of the oppressed blacks towards the society. As Anthony continues to reveal one of the bloodiest chapters in the American history and associated them with his observations, he was petrified and abhorred by the ugliness of history the oppression of whites towards blacks and the inhuman and disgusting acts that have ever committed. He appreciates what his journey had taught him, though they might not necessarily be pretty. He tried to find the answers for what had happened around him. However, for each question he tried to answer, it will branch into three more, into infinitudes that he could no longer grasp (211). He started to view the problems, which he put the blame on the blacks, that trouble that blacks in South Chicago as an continuation of prejudices that rooted in the long history of Mississippi and American in general. He had finally learned to stop to evade and forget (275) the history but to embrace and call them [his] own. (275) In Mississippi: An American Journey, Anthony Walton travels back and forth in the river of Black history and his real-life journey to Mississippi. Waltons journey covers not only places that cast 200 years of history but also a long list of people: sharecroppers, planters, his parents and relatives, famous writers, bluesmen, aristocrats-white and black, those who create the history and those who inhabit it now. To Walton, once one of those who suffered from historical amnesia (274), this journey is a process of answering the contradictions and illusions around him, a process of gaining knowledge instead of being an American innocent, (274) and a process of deciphering his heritage, Mississippi, a place bearing the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. (274) However, it is not the knowledge increment of truth and stories that disappoint him but the acknowledgement of that the past has not yet passed do. Waltons innocence refers to his limited understanding of racism, Mississippi, even America. His knowledge of these is confined to awareness of them but not the insight into them. Walton once believed that the journey would bring him clarity and master of historical tradition of his race to compliment his inexperience. Certainly, the journey does give him enough fruit to appease his hunger. But what he discovers in Mississippi exceeds what he wanted to know. The knowledge he gains from the journey is that he progressively understands that the innocence comes from his happily suffering the historical amnesia that leads Americans to think they are innocent of history because they won-their values prevailed, their goals were achievedà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Moreover, the realization of the pervasion of the darkness of Americas history wakes him up from the dream of the pursuit of truth and enlightment. In the prologue of Mississippi, Walton depicts a powerful scene in which his father, Claude, recounts an event happened on a Christmas Eve forty years ago. Claude points a shuttered building and says James Crump, his childhood friend, was shot right here where used to be a bus station because somebody called the sheriff and complained about James singing and clapping his hands on Christmas Eve. In Waltons mind, his father is a quiet man, well behaved, middle class as him, and never associated with violence because of his religion. But, what he sees in Claudes eyes when he recounts the story is indignation and grief that astonishes him. This old man turns to be a character lived under racism that he had never known. The increasing understanding of his fathers lives inspires him to reexamine racism and Mississippi. In a later chapter, Claude tells Walton the stories of his work during his escape from Mississippi to the North. Walton asks Did you ever want to hurt white people? (216) Claude responds with an ironic smile Most definitely. I hate white people, with a passionà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ I hated them as much as they hated me. I often had visions of wiping out the entire white community. (217)Upon this time, Walton is amazed that his father and thousands of other people who experienced and suffered from racism did not push their suffering down into another generation. (274) But, compared to what confused him before the journey, the toll of daily discrimination and hostilities he paid at New York, Walton realizes that he is still living in the same life as his father did except for the physical labor. Though Walton and other younger blacks can be well-educated, though their parents tried hard not to pass down their suffering and grief to them, the truth that young blacks are unconsciously suffering from the racism cannot be omitted, as long as they are blacks. The augmented knowledge of his father pushes him to realize the vagueness of what he deeply believed before-history is [as being] progressive, as having a purpose. In college, Waltons connection to Mississippi is only when his school, Notre Dame, loses a bitterly fought football game to Ole Miss, which is also the University of Mississippi. What he only knows about University of Mississippi at that time is that there is lots of Confederate hoopla surrounding the Rebels (6) and he does not glad about that. During his journey, he visits University of Mississippi several times, with his mother, Dorothy, and his friend, Mona. Walton and Mona go to the homecoming football game. In the stadium, he once again catches the sight of the Confederate flag among the alumni occupying a half of the stadium. The whites claim the rebel flag represents history and heritage whereas blacks see it as a totem of their subjugation; and it was astonishing to see fifty thousand whites waving Confederate flags to urge on their black gladiators. (162) This striking scene shows that racism is still here, at Mississippi. The society is still separate; the cost of their parents generation has not yet been paid off. However, as Walton and his mother wander around the campus, they find that some of the college students of Ole Miss and other younger blacks generation seem to comfortably live in the freedom in the cost of the 250-year battle of black Mississippians for recognition and civil rights, especially the battle for Ole Miss. (91) No one black student seems to be aware of what had happened here and what is going on here. In Dorothys eyes, A lot of them dont really identify with the cause of Mississippi or with blackness, or with what it took to get here. They dont care what it took as long as they can get in on some of the benefitsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ They probably dont even know who James Meredith is. (91) Statistics even shows that nine out of ten of the black college students in Ole Miss dont know who Medgar Evers was. The reality and statistics both convince Walton of the persisting racism in Mississippi and the ignorance of the generation of young blacks. He defines this symptom as amnesia, an epidemic disease among young blacks. Fortunately, Walton recovers from the journey to Mississippi. In contrast to his previous innocence, Waltons new knowledge about Mississippi and the persisting segregation helps him see the hooplas as something more concrete than mere dislike. The emotion is more complex. It is filled with centuries of hatred and violence, the same as what he sees from his fathers eyes. Dorothy once asked him about William Faulkner when he was in graduate school at Brown University, because she wanted to write about a Nobel laureate from her hometown, New Albany. Walton laughed out loud and informed her that this Faulkner was white. So? she replied. Walton tries hard to not think of Faulkner during his trip to Mississippi because in his mind, Faulkner was a white, a celebrator of the Confederacy and the owner of a big house out on Old Taylor Road whereas himself is a descendent of those who had been the slaves of his Sartorises, Compsons and Sutpens, who had suffered enormously under the Snopeses. But, he realizes he was wrong. Faulkner is everywhere in Mississippi. What Faulkner says about the past is undoubtedly right-the past isnt dead. It isnt even past yet. Faulkners novel Absalom, Absalom! reflects the history of South and foreshadows its future. In the novel, Supten disavows his black son by a black woman while embraces the white son by a white woman. The refusal of admitting the black son sets off a chain of incidents that lead to the destruction of the entire Sutpen family and plantation. After two years of his trip, Walton comes to decipher the metaphor in the novel as the reality what he is examining in Mississippi. The states tragic history is testimony to what this refusal has wrought. And it is now likely that the members of the two racial groups are permanent strangers, doomed to gape and stare but not see, blind to each other as siblings, humans, Americans. (163) Walton also refers Faulkners family story as the history of Mississippi. Faulkner understands the conflict in the hearts of Mississippian because he has deeply fallen in love with a black woman, Caroline Barr. However, when looking around at Faulkners marvelous mansi on, Walton can hardly find anything implies the existence of Caroline and manifests the love of them. Waltons new knowledge or acceptance of Faulkner is the product of his journey, clearing his innocence, recognizing the truth and exposing the scar of history. The book Mississippi: An American Journey emphasizes the shift of Waltons innocence to knowledge of history of blacks, of Mississippi, and of America. In the journey to Mississippi, the cotton plantation, the Rosaline mansion, the resting place of Medgar Ever, Holly Spring, New Albany, and Ole Miss are not simple places or scenic spots to Walton. The long roster containing Richard Wright, President Roosevelt, Ross Barnett, Meredith, sharecroppers, and bluesmen is not merely a review of history neither. They are testimony of racism, hatred and the logjam of history. In the end of the epilogue, Walton points out that Most of all, we want to be innocent of how much the ghosts and bones of our beautiful landscape have shaped and twisted virtually everything that has happened here; and we want to remain ignorant of how costly our innocence is to our government, our communities and our hears. But now, after the journey, Walton is glad that he could recover from the amnesia, never embrace t he ghosts and cradle the bones and call them his [my] own. (275) again. Work Cited Anthony, Walton. Mississippi: An American Journey. New York, Vintage, 1996. Innocence to knowledge Anthony Walton, a black upper middle class man with an Ivy League education, decides to journey back to Mississippi in hopes of discovering more about the, the troubled soul of the south(Caryl Phillips). He describes his experience in his book entitled, Mississippi: An American Journey. Mississippi is a landmark place for him because both his parents were raised there and as a child he spent countless summers with family members there. In the end of his long journey Walton reviews over all that he has learned and witnessed while in Mississippi and he concludes that his findings have taken him from a state of innocence into painful knowledge he did not have before (272). Walton explains this knowledge to be much like the knowledge Adam and Eve received once they, [ate] the fruit of the tree of knowledge, because, [he] became aware of things [he] could never not know again (272). Now Walton is no ignorant person, he studied at both Brown and Norte Dame University, so when he talks of acquiring knowledge he is simply saying he was given in depth information on topics he did not know there level of severity. It is not just Walton who did not know the extent of Mississippi history, but he said Americans in general had this amnesia about the past (272). Some of the realities Walton received were the stories told by older family members. His father told the first story of the book, and that was of his friend being shot to death on Christmas Eve. This story was told as they were walking in Mississippis humid summer weather in the exact location that the killing took place. At the time of the story Walton could only focus on how terribly uncomfortable he was in the weather, while it seemed like his father had stepped in a time machine that put him back at the scene. The deceased boy was innocent, young, and had not hurt a soul that night, but without the slightest bit of questioning was shot and killed instantly by a white man for expressing his happiness. Seeing the emotional and long term effect this had on his father, Walton began to get a glimpse into the sufferings his father experienced as a child in Mississippi compared to the privileged life style his father had given to him. A life style in Illinois where people, kept what prejudices they had to themselves (4). That single story was the beginning of a long str ing of knowledge Walton would collect. In the journey Walton and his mother visited Ole Miss. Ole Miss is the University of Mississippi, the fighting ground for people like his mother and fathers generation. As the two of them sat on campus, Dorothy Walton, his mother reminisced on her dreams about Ole Miss. She said although her generation was not able to attend it she would think, if i could get a chance to go here, that would everything alright, (95). Dorothy also noticed black students on campus who did not acknowledge her and she felt as if they had disconnected and forgotten about all the hard work before them that allowed them to be where they are (91). For instance the first black man to attend Ole Miss, James Meredith, having to be escorted by, five hundred U.S. marshals, border patrolmen, and deputized prison guards (94).Walton listens to her and thinks back to the time when they were touring colleges for him and that bit of information about Ole Miss and his mothers discontent with blacks interaction on campus let him understand the true cost of education. Walton would attend an Ole Miss football game while in Mississippi and witness a sign of racism he had never seen before. He was obviously aware that black people were not always admitted into the university and therefore the past alumni would be white; what he did not know was that the alumni carried, Confederate battle banner[s] everywhere (161). That flag was not a flag that displayed unity amongst all but one that was symbolic of a time where blacks where suppressed and unequal. Whether the flag represented history or not it was offensive to groups and Walton had to be in disbelief when he saw it. These signs were the pieces of the knowledge puzzle he was putting together in his head. Throughout Waltons journey he continues to ask the question of worthiness. His aunt and his mother were approached with the question. He wanted to know from his aunt was it worth moving up north and then moving back to Mississippi where racism is different from up north. She said the ghettos up north were the cause of death for many black men and if she wanted her sons to succeed then they would need to be in another area. This was an eye opener for Walton because he grew up in the north an assumed its was better then the rural south. Walton also asks his mom was it worth having black students who went far but did not even recognize each other? The response that his mother, Dorothy, gives is yes it being worth all the struggles her generations and the ones before endured. He then understands everyone wants better for each other whether it be now or in the future. This was where Waltons innocence was diminished because he now understood that his success was because of the sacrifices o thers before him made, and uncovering these sacrifices was like the key to knowledge. Mississippi: An American Journey is truly a journey that people take as they read the story Walton writes. He brings to the light all of the dark in Mississippis history that he learns. Through Waltons lens Americans and himself know little truth about Mississippi other than its racist and segregated past. What Walton ends with is not petty events and insignificant details found on the street or in a history book, but critical details and events he never knew existed. His newly found knowledge gave him a sense of the strength within the black people of Mississippi and the courage to embrace the past ghost and call them his own(275).

Mass Media Violence and the Effect on Children :: Papers Argumentative

Violence in the media is a problem in American society today. The effect can be severe and widespread. The people exposed to this media violence are mostly children. They are very impressionable and imitate what they see, hear and are told by their friends. In this essay I will state my opinion and the opinions of several physiologists and other officials. Violence on television has been an issue that has plagued man from the day it was invented. Numerous shows depict violent acts such as rape, murder, and other such acts that many people consider inappropriate for adolescents. According to some studies the average child watches about 27 hours of television week. In some cases it is as much as 11 hours a day on a weekend. With the current amount of violence that is on television today these same studies estimate that the average child sees 8,000 murders and 100,000 acts of violence before finishing elementary school. In 1992, there were over 1,800 acts of violence shown on television a day, over 360 those showed an act involving guns. Mediascope's National Television Violence Study found that 57% of television programs aired in 1994 and 1995, contained some violence most of these were cartoons. So the question is, should we ban violence from the television or should we just leave it the way it is? Some people believe that it should be banned from stations that show children?s programs to prevent the exposure of those children. Sometimes children see a great amount of violence on television, they begin to think that this is right and start to imitate the acts that they see on television, which are not the things that the parents want the children to learn from. One example of this is a thirteen-year-old boy who shot his best friend?s father and then put salt in the wounds. When he was asked why he did this he said that he had seen the same thing on a movie the day before. Psychological research has shown three major effects of seeing violence on television: Children may become less sensitive to the pain and suffering of others. Children may be more fearful of the world around them.. Children may be more likely to behave in aggressive or harmful ways toward others. Children who watch a lot of TV are less aroused by violent scenes than are those who only watch a little; in other words, they're less bothered by violence in general, and less likely to anything wrong with it.

Frankenstein Essay examples -- essays papers

Frankenstein The Monster, The True Victim Mary Shelley’s, Frankenstein, symbolized a person’s necessity for acceptance by society. Society labels everything as good or bad, right or wrong, rich or poor. Although some of these labels may be correct, many are misconceptions. The monster, needed to be accepted by society, but instead was scorned, attacked, and shunned because of his outward appearance. The treatment of the monster was on the assumption that he was actually a monster. The only justification of this treatment was his outward appearance. The death of Dr. Victor Frankenstein’s father stirred his interest in prolonging life. He had noble intentions of helping humanity. As death is a part of life, he became obsessed with death. He felt he had to experience death to a certain point. â€Å"To examine the causes of life, we must first have recourse to death.† (Shelley 36) Dr. Frankenstein started studying the effects of death on the human body. This study became an obsession with him. He wanted to be able to create life. If he could create a living, breathing being, then he would be God like. Unlike God, Frankenstein abandoned his creation. Dr. Frankenstein’s creature was somewhat like Adam in that they were unique and individual. Adam was created and given a companion, Eve. He received loving care and had the presence of a father. Even though Adam and Eve were ejected from the Garden of Eden, his father never deserted him. Adam was created with unselfish intentions, and was not punished by God until he had violated the law. The monster cannot be held accountable for his abandonment, for he was forsaken and unloved from the moment he was created. Frankenstein never processed any loving feelings for his creatio... ... before conceiving a child. It is entertaining to think that Shelley, herself, probably never had the luxury of choice, whether it was due to the lack of family planning technology or her own emotional obstacles. Frankenstein’s journey of Faustian beginning with his neglectful parent actions, is a deeply interconnected and richly developed expedition within the novel. I feel that the greater part of this work is the speaking of one woman’s fears, and the fears of most parents. Mary Shelley asked if an un-mothered child who undergoes much pain, can ever mature into a moral, considerate member of society? Levine says, â€Å" . . . the Frankenstein metaphor implies great ambiguity about where the burden of good and evil rests† (31). This signifies the importance of acceptance by society and that without love and affection we all could be acceptable to a violent nature.

COLD SASSY TREE Essay -- essays research papers

Cold Sassy Tree, a novel by Olive Ann Burns, is an incredible story about the southern town of Cold Sassy, and a young man named Will Tweedy. In 1906, fourteen year old Will Tweedy is just starting to realize what it means to be a man, and all the responsibility that comes along with growing up. In Cold Sassy GA, the town is filled with gossip surrounding the town’s newest newlyweds. Will Tweedy finds himself eyewitness to it all. Grandpa E Rucker Blakeslee has ‘tied the knot’ with the young milliner, Miss Love Simpson. With it being only three weeks after the death of his last wife, the family and town alike are shocked. Confused but curious about it all, Will observes what it means to be husband and wife and what it really means to love. Puzzled by the secrets shared between the two, he tries to figure out just why Grandpa Blakeslee asked Miss Love for her hand in marriage and why she even agreed. While Grandpa Blakeslee is experiencing his second adolescence, Will is trying to make it through his first. When Will gets hit by a train and is still alive to tell about it, Grandpa Blakeslee gives him a lesson on God’s Will. And Will starts to realize not everyone interprets things the same way. When the mill child, Lightfoot crosses Will’s pa th his heart skips a beat. With all Will’s new found attractions and desires he decided to try his luck with the girls. That’s when he experiences his first kiss, and also his first heartbreak. After the innocent Uncle Camp kill’s himself due to Aunt Loma’s constant criticism, Will starts to question how he treats people. He starts to wonder if maybe he helped his uncle pull the trigger. Soon after that Grandpa Blakeslee’s store isn’t doing all that well. Two unidentified strangers come and rob Grandpa Blakeslee blind, in the process beating him up ‘something awful’. With his weakness effecting his immune system, he catches a bad case of pneumonia and soon passes away. But not before Miss Love could tell him what he had been waiting to hear his whole life†¦. He would soon have a son to carry on the family name. Not at all scared of death or the unknown, Grandpa Blakeslee orders a letter to be read concerning his funeral and remains. But to everyone’s surprise he orders the cheapest and lowest class funeral and orders himself nothing, but a wooden box. Wanting no one to mourn over him and everyone to know that he was dead... ...d soon before she died of cancer in 1994. She never finished Leaving Cold Sassy. Burns was born in 1924 on a farm in Banks County GA. Her childhood school was what modeled in her novel Cold Sassy Tree. She received a degree in journalism from the University of North Carolina, and later went on to join the Sunday magazine staff of Atlanta Journal and Constitution, were she stayed for ten years. Her marriage of the magazine’s editor, Andy, soon produced two children, Becky and John. The novel Cold Sassy Tree was based on the stories her father told her as a young child.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This book left me with the impression that life in the south in 1906 maybe wasn’t as bad as it seemed. Even without all the modern technology there is today, people had fun in other ways. In a lot of ways life was better back then. But there was still some of the crime and injustice we still see today. Religion seems to be a big part of their everyday lives. I believe other’s should read this book if they want to relive life in the south, and watch how a young southern boy finally grows up.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  

Ethical Argument Cover Letter Essay

This is my submission for the Ethical Argument writing assignment. I was asked to choose a topic to write and I chose to write about the Ethical Arguments against Abortion. Initially, I had many choices but I landed on this mainly because this is a broad topic as it covers science, religion, and human rights. Since this is a broad topic, it was also difficult to choose which part of abortion is suitable for this argument and which part of abortion I can write without injecting my personal views and opinion. Thus, I decided to write to focus on why abortion is acceptable for the case of life endangerment and why it can’t be accepted in rape cases. The purpose of this essay is to show arguments about the legalization of abortion with regards to life endangerment against rape case. Perhaps, the most difficult part of writing this paper is to weigh objectively the stand of abortion in the two cases given in this essay. However, the parallel or example I gave helped me arrive to the argument I presented. I hope that this writing will meet your requirements and I would be glad to receive some feedbacks from you. Respectfully Yours, Student’s Name Student’s Name Professor’s Name Subject 29 April 2009 Ethical Arguments against Abortion For years, we have heard a lot of arguments against abortion; arguments as to why or why not abortion should be legalized. It seems to be a never-ending debate especially when taken from a pro-life perspective. Arguments against abortion often range from objections based on the USA’s constitution protection of the rights to human life to biblical belief that human life starts at conception. However, more arguments and objections arise when a law justifying abortion for mothers whose lives are endangered because of pregnancy has been approved, whereas others are questioning that if this is permissible, why can’t rape cases be? This essay offers arguments and responses as to why it is morally illegitimate to have abortion in the event of rape, while it is fairly acceptable to commit abortion when the mother’s life is endangered. Let’s look at the rape issue first. One of the fundamental beliefs of person’s rights regarding any system concerning the use of disciplinary force is that is to be applied only against those individuals responsible for the initiation of force. In this situation, the guilty party is the rapist and not the fetus. Moreover, in this case, the law might legally grant its authority to terminate the rapist, since rape is considered as an abominable crime, but not the child, even if the child’s dependence on his mother was the result of the rape. Let me give you a parallel. Imagine that there are two mutually unfriendly people living in the same building during the bombing raids of Hitler in 1940. A bomb is thrown into the building and this causes all possible exits to collapse while destroying all the walls that separate the neighbors. In effect, they are forced to share the same space and work with each other in the hopes to channel themselves out despite a mutual dislike. Does the given scenario justify one of the two unfriendly neighbors killing the other because of the inconvenience caused by the other, even though none of them had really caused it, or wouldn’t it be proper to demand justice from the Nazi air marshal who had originally commanded the bombing raids? Although the bombing and rape are two immensely unlikely scenarios, both are possible and the possible circumstances here are parallel to that of a pregnancy caused by rape. Going to the mother’s life endangerment issue, no individual is really obliged to his or her own life to save another person’s life. Therefore, when it can be proved medically that the mother’s life is in fact significantly endangered by a pregnancy, then, an abortion may be undertaken as a final resort and an only situation where it is possible to support legal abortion and to remain loyal to the individual rights’ principle; however, it is not an ordinary situation. Rather, it is considered an emergency, or a sort of situation as addressed in â€Å"The Ethics of Emergencies† written by Ayn Rand as part of her essay collection â€Å"The Virtue of Selfishness†. An emergency is an unchosen, unexpected event, limited in time that creates conditions under which human survival is impossible – such as a flood, an earthquake, a fire, a shipwreck. It is only in emergency situations that one should volunteer to help strangers. For instance, a man who values human life and is caught in a shipwreck, should help to save his fellow passengers (though not at the expense of his own life). But this does not mean that after they all reach shore, he should devote his efforts to saving them from poverty, ignorance, neurosis or whatever other troubles they might have. Nor should he spend his life sailing the seven seas in search of shipwreck victims to save. (The Virtue of Selfishness) From this definition alone, the situation of a mother whose life is endangered because of pregnancy is considered as an emergency as long as the mother has no idea that her pregnancy would put her life into danger. However, if from the start, the mother already knew about her medical condition that pregnancy will do her no good, it must be her responsibility to avoid becoming pregnant and must do her best to protect her health. Should she decide to face the risk, aborting the baby must not be done. In addition, Rand writes in her essay that emergencies are always exempted from the rule. They are not the normal state of ethical human relations or of human existence. To say that such extreme action may be allowed in emergencies is simply not to extend the acceptability or tolerability to the realm of human existence as dealt with by the basics or fundamentals of ethics. So, just because abortion may be justified as a final resort in some unexpected circumstances, this does not mean that the general legalization of abortion may be justified, especially with the fact that most cases of abortion occur because a woman has gone through indiscriminate sexual relations and has never wished to bring upon herself the objective consequences of such actions which are the pregnancy and the responsibility and obligation of bringing up a child. Work Cited Rands, Ayn. â€Å"The Virtue of Selfishness† 28 December 2008. Glyn Hughes’ Squashed Philosophers. 29 April 2009. Annotated Bibliography Rands, Ayn. â€Å"The Virtue of Selfishness† 28 December 2008. Glyn Hughes’ Squashed Philosophers. 29 April 2009. Rand’s essay collection â€Å"The Virtue of Selfishness† offers the basic or fundamental social principle of Objectivist ethics that life is simply an end itself, which simply means that every human being is an end himself. This also explains that man must live only for his own self and neither to sacrifice himself for others, nor having others to sacrifice themselves for him. The chapters in this essay collection could be easily included in the ethical argument writing especially when the topic is about sacrificing oneself or sacrificing others for the benefit of the other just like the topic in this argument.